On the road by 8:30AM, heading for Los Cruces. Through Tucson without a hitch. Lots of highway construction going on just south of Picacho Peak and also in Tucson. Highway narrowed to 2 lanes each way for about 10 miles, but once by that, no problem. Did come by one big accident with a couple of overturned semis, but was on the opposite side of the highway so did not hold us up at all. Arrived in Los Cruces at 2:30PM and pulled into the KOA just off I -10 on highway 70. John and Brenda had just pulled in minutes before. We had decided not to even try to travel together, and they had left about 1/2 hour ahead of us, so we thought they would have been here quite a while sooner than us. They had stopped for lunch and we had just snacked on junk food as we drove! After we all got settled in, we jumped in John's jeep and went down to Old Los Cruces for a little shopping and to look around. Again lots of neet stuff to buy, but no room to store it in the RV. Bought some stuff anyway ----
Decided that since it was after 4:00PM that we might as well have some Mexican vittles for supper.
John and Brenda had been down here before and knew of a good Mexican Restaurant called La Posta right there in Old Town Los Cruces. Old Town was originally Mesilla. Old Town has quite a history.The village of Mesilla was incorporated in 1848, after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo moved the U.S.-Mexico border south of the village of Doña Ana, placing it in the United States. A small group of citizens, unhappy at being part of the United States, decided to move south of the border. They settled in Mesilla at this time. By 1850, Mesilla was an established colony. By this time, its people were under constant threat of attack from the Apache. By 1851, the attacks caused the United States to take action to protect its people just to the north of the border, in the Mesilla Valley. They did this by creating Fort Fillmore. As a result of the fort, the United States declared the Mesilla Valley region part of the United States. Mexico also claimed this strip of land, causing it to become known as "No Mans Land."This boundary dispute, which was officially caused by a map error, was resolved in 1853, with the Gadsden Purchase. Mesilla became a part of the United States, as well as the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona.Mesilla served as the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona in 1861-1862 during the Civil War, and was known as the "hub", or main city for the entire region. During the "Wild West" era, Mesilla was known for its cantinas and festivals. The area attracted such figures as Pancho Villa, Billy the Kid, and Pat Garrett. The village was also the crossroads of two major stagecoach lines, Butterfield Stagecoach and the Santa Fe Trail. The village of Mesilla was the most important city of the region until 1881.In 1881, the Santa Fe Railway was ready to build through the Gadsden Purchase region of the country. Mesilla was naturally seen as the city the railroad would run through. However, The people of Mesilla asked for too much money for the land rights, and a land owner in nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico, a much smaller village than Mesilla, stepped in and offered free land.
The city of Mesilla has not grown since, and the Las Cruces area has grown to a population nearing 200,000 people[1] and is currently the second largest city in New Mexico. Mesilla remains much the same today as it did in 1881, now a protected historical site, but as small as it was the day it froze, when the railroad passed it by.We had a great dinner of Mexican Grub. Don't expect me to tell you what each of us had, or what even was the menu called it, but we all enhjoyed it anyway. The dessert was especially good!! It was some sort of crust filled with either apple or cherry filling. Good !!!Back home and to the end of another great Day!!!
Very interestingo your post!
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